The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea of hybrid origin and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Summer Sun’. ‘Summer Sun’ represents a new purple coneflower, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The Inventor discovered the new cultivar, ‘Summer Sun’, as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation in his trial field in June of 2008 in Hillegom, The Netherlands. The new cultivar was discovered as a single unique plant amongst a field of Echinacea seedlings from unknown parentage.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by in vitro propagation in Rijswijk, The Netherlands in November 2008 under the direction of the Inventor. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.